Aftermath
by NeverMessWithTeddyBears
Summary: She's sitting at the small table in the middle of the room and he looks at her, his eyes trying to catch hers. "This isn't your fault." / Post-CATWS. AOU speculation. Spoilers.


**Aftermath**

* * *

_**A.N.:**_** Slight spoilers for "**_**Age Of Ultron**_**" – I borrowed some lines and scenes from the spoilers we know – so if you're trying to stay spoiler free, the latter part of this fic **_**won't**_** really be your cup of tea. Consider yourselves warned.**

* * *

She calls him after S.H.I.E.L.D. falls.

"Where are you?", the question is quick and harsh, and it takes him a moment before he answers.

"_Stark Tower, why?_"

She runs a hand through her hair, trying to think of what to do, where to send him. If HYDRA finds him, things could get tricky.

"_Natasha.._", he pauses. "_What's going on?_"

"Bruce, listen to me, okay?", she doesn't wait for him to answer. "Book a ticket back to Kolkata or Sao Paulo or wherever. Just make it far away, try to stay away from everyone, hide. Try to blend in. No phones, no technology of any sorts, nothing traceable.", she can almost feel him nod with his brows furrowed in confusion.

"_What happened?_", he asks and this time she decides to answer. It's better if he hears this from her rather than hearing it on the news.

"Everything's out.", she replies. "Every single bit of dirty laundry S.H.I.E.L.D. has, every secret, every file, no matter if it's classified, whether it's level one or fifty-one. It's all out on the web."

"_Even information on me._", he says and it's more of a statement than a question.

"Yes.", she answers anyway. "Bruce, I'm-"

"_It's okay, Natasha._", he cuts her off and she can hear no grudge in his voice. "_I'll ask _JARVIS_ to make travel arrangements. How does Fulacunda sound?_", his voice is teasing.

She smiles. "Marvelous."

He chuckles and hangs up, and she tosses her phone into the nearest bin.

* * *

It's easy to find him once things start going back to normal. He's still in Fulacunda, and it takes her a few days to get there. She's using a new cover Fury and Maria arranged her, and her hair is now cut a bit shorter and dyed blonde.

She doesn't have to waste a lot of time searching for his exact location once she arrives. The city is small with population just slightly above a thousand and Banner's reputation as a doctor preceeds him.

She decides to knock on the door instead of just letting herself in.

"Evening, Doc.", she says, a smirk on her face. He moves away from the door in silent invitation and she walks in. "Nice little place you've got here."

He dryly laughs. "Yeah, the Stark Tower is _nothing_ to all of this.", he jokes, gesturing around the small shack, and her smirk turns into a smile. "Am I safe to assume that you're here to take me back home, or?"

She nods. "The coast is clear.", she pauses. "You haven't gotten bored here already, have you?", she asks in false disbelief.

He laughs again but it soon dies out. They stay in silence for a few minutes, before he speaks. "Do you want to talk about it?", he asks and she knows to what he's referring. She didn't really give him the full story the last time they spoke, and she thinks she owes him at least that.

"HYDRA has been hiding in S.H.I.E.L.D. for the past seventy years.", she says and only the subtle lift of his eyebrows show that he's surprised at the news. He doesn't interrupt her, though, so she continues. "The only way we could stop them was to leak all information out in the open. So, I did it. And now they know everything. Every single detail of my life is out in the open. And yours and Fury's, and Rogers'. Everyone's. And all someone has to do is open an Internet browser and search to their heart's content."

She's sitting at the small table in the middle of the room and he slowly comes closer, taking a seat on the second chair. He looks at her, his eyes trying to catch hers. "This isn't your fault."

"I was the one who-"

"Natasha.", he cuts her off as he puts his hand gently on top of her own. "This is _not_ your fault."

They fall into another silence, but it's a comfortable one and he doesn't rush her to say something in reply. She appreciates that.

He's always so careful around her, never letting what happened at the hellicarrier slip his mind. She has since gotten through her fear of the Hulk – the fear of how unpredicatble he is – and has came to terms with the fact that there are some things in this world that she can't manipulate or control, and Bruce has helped her with that. With him, she's developed a friendship built on drinking tea from all over the world and discussing russian literature, even exchanging stories about the places they've visited; whether on a mission (_Natasha_) or in hiding (_Bruce_). And, as trust developed, so did other feelings.

She looks down at his hand that's holding hers and a small smile comes to her lips. "Thank you.", she says and he nods, giving her hand one last reassuring squeeze before letting it go.

Natasha finds herself missing the warmth, but she lets those thoughts go.

"You know, I've never been to Fulacunda before. Want to show me around before we go?", she asks, a smirk on her face.

He nods as laughter escapes his lips. "It would be my pleasure, Ms. Romanoff."

* * *

The Hulk's eyes turn red and a split second later, he's causing havoc. Suddenly, if possible, he has become even more terrifying; his veins popped out, becoming easily visible, and his eyes became bloodshot. The sun was reflected on the sweat and it was as if he was running a fever. His breathing was heavy and the moment Tony tried to get him under control, he became even angrier, his rage making him stronger.

Natasha pauses in her track as the Hulk pushes a car into Tony and she flinches, memories of the hellicarrier coming back to her. She has to do something, though, because even if the Hulkbuster was designed to specifically be able to overpower the Hulk, Natasha doesn't have much faith that it'll happen.

She looks around, trying to calculate where she could climb to come closer to the Hulk's level. She thinks the debris of stacked cars would do the trick, and she just manages to climb them when the Hulk turns around and notices her. She can see he's recognised her as a threat and Natasha knows she doesn't have much time to do something, because the Hulk is taking fast steps to come closer to her.

The Hulk yells, and she yells back. "_Bruce_!", it comes out something in between an angry scream and a cry for help and she thinks that maybe it'll work. That maybe, if Bruce is still there and if he sees she's in danger, he'll manage to break free from the hold of whatever spell the Hulk is under. She yells out his name a few more times, every time sounding a bit more feral, trying to match the Hulk's.

She already thinks she's failed, when the Hulk stops and his eyes look down at her. There are still traces of red in them, but she can see them going back to their usual color.

"Bruce, it's me; Natasha.", she yells out. "Everything's okay. You're fine.", she continues. "Bruce, _please_.", she lifts up her left hand slowly and the Hulk's eyes follow her. Natasha tries not to do any sudden movements, she doesn't want to do anything that would enrage – or maybe frighten – him.

Silent prays in Russian to a God she doesn't believe in fill her mind, and she tries to push out the fear that's trying to consume her.

_This is Bruce._ \- she tells herself – _Bruce will _not_ hurt you. He _won't_ hurt you._

Then, suddenly, the Hulk lifts his arm and carefully puts it against hers – as if he really did recognise her - and as she keeps looking at him Natasha notices that his eyes are coming back to brown, and she lets out a brief sigh of relief.

_Bruce._

* * *

(Later, she tries to comfort him.

"If you hadn't been there, there would have been double the casualties."

Bruce grimaces. "You know, sometimes exactly what I want to hear isn't exactly what I want to hear.", he replies.

She turns to Thor for help in reassuring Banner that he did nothing wrong, but that doesn't turn out to be of much help.)

* * *

It seems like just a moment ago, they were laughing and having a good time; as if just a few moments have passed since Bruce gestured to her if she would like to try and lift Mjölnir and she replied that it was a question she didn't need answered, although the though of Bruce believing she might have lifted it brought a smile to her face.

And now there was a threat in front of them.

As Ultron appears, the first thing she does is reach out to Bannner. She needs to know if he's calm, has to make sure he's taking all of this well.

Her hand reaches his and he looks back at her. Their eyes connect and it's as if they hold an entire conversation without words. She gives him a concerned look and he simply nods and she can see he's controlling his breathing. Natasha lets her hand slip down to his wrist and stay there only long enough so she can briefly check his pulse, counting in her head how many guns and ammo she has stashed in the room, and figuring out the fastest way to get to them.

Soon, shit hits the fan as more robots – clearly under Ultron's control – start crashing into the room. Natasha turns back to Bruce and this time, she uses words.

"You okay?"

He nods, but his breathing goes heavier. Natasha reaches for the gun hidden closest to her and checks the ammo. She looks at him and tells him one more thing before she starts shooting.

"Don't go green."


End file.
